WASHINGTON — In the first episode of a special five-part miniseries, McClatchy’s national political correspondent Alex Roarty, who covers the Democratic Party, talks with Delaware activist and former Senate candidate Kerri Evelyn Harris about how new voices that emerged in the 2018 midterms will influence the party’s future headed into the 2020 presidential election.

Harris, a biracial, gay Air Force veteran, talks about the progressive campaign she ran this fall against Sen. Tom Carper, D- Delaware, and how the party’s failed candidates view their role in reshaping — not always tidily — the direction of the party.

“It’s going to be a long road, but, it’s going to be shorter than we think because we’re staying involved,” said Harris, who reconvened with her Senate campaign staff to talk next steps at 1 p.m. the day after she lost to Carper.

“If I say that we have to stay engaged but I’m not engaged myself, because [I] need a break to go to the beach, then I’m not modeling what I think is necessary to create that change,” added Harris.

On the next 25-minute episode of Democrats’ Way Back, available for download Tuesday, November 13, Roarty talks to Sean McElwee, leader of the left’s Abolish ICE movement, and Jess Morales, political director for the National Domestic Workers Alliance.

Democrats’ Way Back is produced by Jordan-Marie Smith and Davin Coburn. Alex Roarty, a national political correspondent for McClatchy covering the Democratic Party, recorded this episode at McClatchy’s Washington Bureau.